Isleworth Mona Lisa
The Isleworth Mona Lisa is an early sixteenth-century oil on canvas painting widely attributed to the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci. It depicts the same subject as the Mona Lisa. The painting first came into public view in 1913 when the English connoisseur Hugh Blaker acquired it from a manor house in Somerset, where it was thought to have been hanging for over a century.
Historical, stylistic and scientific evidence continues to remain divisive. An independent 2015 academic journal article attributed the work to Leonardo on stylistic grounds, but a 2018 journal found the work to not be by Leonardo, based on the use of convolutional neural networks. Either way, scientific evidence is not universally considered decisive for authenticating works of art. Ownership of the painting is disputed as well, as an anonymous "distinguished European family" has claimed that the painting's former owner had sold a 25% stake in the painting, but a lawyer stated that the claim was clearly without merit.
Description
The work is widely believed to be a copy of the more famous Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and there are many similarities between the two. Both paintings depict a dark haired woman, Lisa Gherardini, who sits at an angle and is surrounded by the landscape behind her. The work measures 84.5 × 64.5 cm, slightly larger than the original Mona Lisa. However, the Isleworth Mona Lisa is notable for various differences, such as the model being noticeably younger, having columns, and being painted on canvas.Background
In 1913 English connoisseur Hugh Blaker spotted and acquired the painting from a nobleman's house in Somerset where it had been hanging for over a century. The painting would eventually adopt its unofficial name of Isleworth Mona Lisa from Blaker's studio being in Isleworth, West London. In a letter he wrote to his sister Jane, Blaker stated that he thought the work to be by Leonardo and therefore saw potential for making money out of his purchase. Towards the beginning of 1914, Hungarian-born London art critic and historian Paul George Konody examined the painting, and concluded that, unlike Wilhelm von Bode's bust of Flora, the painting was in fact by Leonardo. The painting had been proposed by its owner, art collector Hugh Blaker, to have been painted by Leonardo, perhaps prior to the painting of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Konody wrote that the reception of the painting had been marred by "some press agent who sent out the news broadcast, with wrong statements, misquotations, and other blunders galore", but nonetheless found that "though not altogether from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci himself, it emanates most certainly from his studio and was very largely worked up by the master himself". Konody further stated of the painting that "he hands, with their careful and somewhat hard drawing and terra cotta coloring, suggest at once the name of Leonardo's pupil, Marco d' Oggionno; whereas the inimitably soft and lovely painting of the head and bust, the exquisite subtlety of the expression, the golden glow of the general coloring, can be due only to Leonardo". Konody found the painting to have features "far more pleasing and beautiful than in the Louvre version".With the approach of World War I Blaker sent the painting to his step-father, John R. Eyre, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for safekeeping in 1922. Eyre also believed in its attribution and claimed that the painting was a earlier version of Leonardo's Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Eyre cited Konody's evaluation in his initial monograph defending the authenticity of the Isleworth Mona Lisa, "when this opinion was endorsed by an art critic of Mr. P. G. Konody's standing, I felt convinced there was at least good ground for investigation". Eyre then traveled throughout Italy consulting various scholars on the painting, many of whom authenticated some parts to Leonardo. However, his efforts were not able to secure wide acceptance of the work's authenticity.. After Blaker's death in 1936, the painting was passed to his sister, Jane who died in 1947, leaving the painting's whereabouts unknown..
The work was eventually bought in 1962 by Henry F. Pulitzer, who took the attribution further than Eyre, arguing that it was Leonardo's only real portrait of Lisa Gherardini, implying the Louvre Mona Lisa to be a copy. Pulitzer was known to have sold his house and many of his possessions to purchase the painting all while continuing to promote the painting throughout his lifetime, although he was never successful in achieving a wide attribution. When Pulitzer died in 1979 his partner, Elizabeth Meyer, inherited the painting and after her death, the Isleworth Mona Lisa was sold to a group of Geneva-based investors in 2008. On 27 September 2012, The Mona Lisa Foundation of Zurich officially unveiled the painting and simultaneously published at the same time presented the Foundation's research and arguments for the painting's authenticity. Most modern leading scholars remain skeptical.
Ownership
Ownership of the painting is disputed as an anonymous "distinguished European family" has claimed that the painting's former owner had sold a 25% stake in the painting, but a lawyer stated that the claim was clearly without merit.Authenticity
After its discovery in 1913 the painting's attribution to Leonardo was first suggested by its owner, Hugh Blaker, who believed it to be by Leonardo. Blaker's stepfather, John Eyre, expanded on the theory in his 1915 publication, claiming that it was the earlier version of the better known Louvre Mona Lisa. Eyre again published another book in 1923, which was the result of consultation of 10 experts, many of whom attributed sections of the painting to Leonardo. Art historian Martin Kemp notes that "His little book of fifty-one pages is full of careful scholarship, and makes about as good a case as can be made". However, Blaker and Eyre's efforts did not result in wide acceptance.When Henry Pulitzer purchased the painting in 1962, he immediately endorsed the attribution of Eyre, stating that the work was in fact, the only Mona Lisa done by Leonardo. This was noted in his book where he argued that Leonardo's contemporary Raphael made a sketch of this painting, probably from memory, after seeing it in Leonardo's studio in 1504. The Raphael sketch includes the two Greek columns that are not found in the Louvre's Mona Lisa, but are found in the Isleworth painting. Pulitzer presents a few pages of art expert testimonials in his book; some of these experts seemed to believe that Leonardo was the painter, others felt the artist was somebody who worked in Leonardo's studio, and still others suggested that other artists may have done it. He then presents laboratory evidence, such as light to dark ratios across the canvas and X-rays, that suggested the painting to be by Leonardo. However, specific detail on the manner in which these studies were carried out, and by whom, is not provided. He writes: "I have no intention of cluttering up this book with too many technicalities and wish to make this chapter brief". No independent reports on the painting are cited in his text; he uses the pronoun "we" to refer to the team that conducted the research. As his own Pulitzer Press then published these results, there is a lack of outside corroboration for his claims.
Since then, a number of experts have examined and studied the work. Between 2012 and 2013 a number of examinations and tests were carried out and a summary was reported by Reuters on 13 February 2013. Alfonso Rubino found that the work matched Leonardo's geometry and believed it to be by his hand. In 2013, Professor Atila Soares examined the painting in detail and published a book where he confirmed its authenticity as a genuine Leonardo.
In October 2013, Jean Pierre Isbouts published his book The Mona Lisa Myth examining the history and events behind the Louvre and Isleworth paintings and confirmed the latter's attribution to Leonardo. A companion film was released in March 2014. In April 2014, Albert Sauteur examined the perspective used to execute the Isleworth Mona Lisa and the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and concluded that Leonardo painted both works. In July 2014 "The Mona Lisa Mystery" premiered on the PBS television station's series Secrets of the Dead. This documentary investigated, at length, the authenticity of the Isleworth painting.
In 2015, an academic publication by professors Salvatore Lorusso and Andrea Natali provided an exhaustive analysis of Mona Lisa paintings and copies, and concluded that the Isleworth Mona Lisa was an original work by Leonardo. In 2016 professors Asmus, Parfenov and Elford published the results of scientific examinations that established to their satisfaction that the same artist painted the face of both the Mona Lisa and the Isleworth Mona Lisa.
Gérard Boudin de l'Arche published a comprehensive historical survey in 2017, concluding that Leonardo painted the Isleworth Mona Lisa, and that it was concluded before the Louvre Mona Lisa.